St Kilda (work party 3) June 2006 Day 13

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Awoke to heavy rain and high winds blowing from the South East.Started to finish off cleit 113, collecting turf and pinning it to the roof.Work was called off after lunch as the weather was worsening.I went for a walk over to Ruival in the pouring rain and high winds and to watch the sea birds stuggling agaist the storm was quite emotional but it was good to see the Puffins with their bills stuffed with sand eels.Lots of Gannets were flying close to the waves and were taking shallow dives as opposed to their normal high altitude assaults.Over on Dun the "Petrel Heads" were battened down in their tents which were taking a right pounding.
After dinner i washed up with Kerry then ventured down to the Puffin to watch England play Sweden in a 2-2 draw.The Elektron supply ship was due to berth at 3.30 am on the high tide,this required the bar to be closed as the whole base is classed as on duty 12 hrs.prior to any landing.Because of bad weather the Elektron had been unable to visit since last October and things were beginning to run low and a double run for bunkering fuel was planned.The Elektron is a roll on roll off ferry and beaches itself in village bay to enable the bows to be lifted and the ramp lowered.This operation requires the tides and conditions to be right or the plan is aborted.The base manager is in charge of the landing and in consultation with the Elektron skipper it was decided to cancel in view of the deteriorating weather.This decision meant that the bar could then be opened, good news for us but bad for the Petrel Heads who had been allowed to watch the match but had to leave once the bar was reopened (Qinetiq health and safety regs!!)
The storm blew through the night and the Elektron had to ride it out in the bay and wait until the sand that was washed off the beach returned.

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